Why we print everything in-house (and why dropshipping doesn't work for art)

Most "art print" sellers in India don't actually print anything. They list a JPEG on Shopify, take your money, and forward your address to a printing partner in Gurgaon or Tamil Nadu who batches your order with thousands of others and ships you what comes off the cheapest paper available that week.

If the paper isn't named, it's the wrong paper.

What dropshipped art looks like after one year

• Yellowing in the highlights (cheap pulp paper)
• Magenta cast in the shadows (dye-based ink, not pigment)
• Curl at the corners (no archival sizing)
• Visible printer dots when you stand close (low DPI)

What we print on, and why

250 GSM matte cotton archival paper. 100% cotton fibre (no wood pulp), acid-free, lignin-free. Doesn't yellow with age — the same kind of paper used for limited-edition museum prints.

Pigment ink, not dye. Pigment ink particles sit on the paper surface and reflect light evenly. Rated 100+ years light-fastness under normal indoor conditions.

Calibrated press. We profile every batch of paper against the press so colour stays accurate from the first print of the month to the last.

The economics

Cheaper materials would let us drop A4 prices to ₹199. We've done the maths. The customer experience is worse — and the carbon footprint of a print you replace every year is worse than one that lasts twenty.

Honest paper, honest pricing. That's the trade.